Netflix’s Black Rabbit the perfect bad bromance for co-stars

And yet, in 2024, they found themselves at a series of tasting menu outings together, choosing among entrees - lamb shank en papillote, a Caribbean-inspired soft-shell crab sandwich ~ “like we were getting married”, American actor Bateman said. “Like, ‘Do you like that one, honey?’ ‘Ooh, I love it!’” British actor Law added, with a laugh: “We were choosing side plates and glasses.”

- Melena Ryzik

It was all prep for their eight-episode limited series Black Rabbit, which is available on Netflix.

Law and Bateman play friction-fuelled brothers. The show, set in a fictional buzzy restaurant in Lower Manhattan, pairs them up and pits them against each other in a high-stakes dramatic thriller.

The Bear (2022 to present), with its hero shots of mise en place, it is not. Here, the menus may be delectable, but they are a backdrop.

The emotional crux is really about familial bonds laid bare by ambition and greed.

“It probably goes back to the earliest forms of storytelling,” said Law, a co-executive producer with Bateman on the series. “Warring brothers, loving brothers, opposites.”

Bateman, who directed the first two episodes, added: “Structurally, being brothers gives you a bank that allows for massive misbehaviour — without destroying the connection.”

Marriages can dissolve in divorce. With siblings, “they can literally beat each other up”, he said, and still, “we’re always going to be brothers. You're (expletive) stuck with me”.

Their union may seem like a head-scratcher. The elegant Law, 52, is an exemplar of a certain kind of high-cheekbone British drama.